Contact: John Hartgen
703-894-5935
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS TAKES TOP HONORS AT DUBERSTEIN
COMPETITION
March 17, 2010 Alexandria, Va. — Students from the
University of Texas-Austin earned top honors at the 18th Annual Conrad
B. Duberstein National Bankruptcy Moot Court Competition, sponsored by
the American Bankruptcy Institute and St. John’s University School
of Law. Two teams of students from UT won both first and second place,
and UT students also won the best written brief competition. A team from
the University of Miami took third place overall, while a team from
Texas Tech Law School finished in fourth place. Other top briefs were
submitted by students from the University of Alabama, the University of
Miami and the University of Houston. The top oralist award went to a
student at Southern Methodist University. The ABI Endowment Fund
provides cash awards to the winning participants, while St. John’s
provides plaques.
The Duberstein Competition, named for the late Judge Conrad B.
Duberstein – a St. Johns alumnus and former ABI Director -- has
grown into the largest appellate moot court in the nation, with nearly
50 teams from 35 participating law schools. The final rounds are held at
the recently-renamed Duberstein Federal Courthouse in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Many of the teams are coached by ABI practitioners or academic members.
More than 100 practitioners donated many hours serving as early round
judges or graders of written briefs. This year’s case problem was
pulled from today’s headlines involving Ponzi scheme bankruptcies,
and raised two questions: whether a sophisticated investor who becomes
suspicious and withdraws funds is denied the protection provided to
good-faith transferees, and whether a bankruptcy trustee can waive an
individual debtor’s attorney/client privilege. The competition is
directed by Prof. G. Ray Warner, Associate Dean for Bankruptcy Studies
at St. John’s and a member of the ABI Board of
Directors.
The final round bench consisted of federal appeals court judges
size='3'>R. Guy Cole
(6th Circuit), Steven Colloton (8th Circuit),
size='3'>Gerald
Tjoflat (11th Circuit) and
size='3' face='Times New Roman'>Wallace Tashima (9th Cir),
along with bankruptcy judges
face='Times New Roman'>Carla Craig (Chief Judge, E.D.N.Y.)
and Stuart Bernstein (S.D.N.Y.). More than two dozen
bankruptcy judges from around the country served on the quarter-final
and semi-final rounds as judges.
More than 1,000 insolvency professionals attended the awards gala,
held at Pier 60 in Manhattan. The dinner has become the New York
insolvency event of the year. Judge
face='Times New Roman'>Burton R. Lifland (S.D.N.Y.) was
honored for his 30 years of service on the bench as jurist, scholar and
innovator.
###
ABI is the largest multi-disciplinary, nonpartisan organization
dedicated to research and education on matters related to insolvency.
ABI was founded in 1982 to provide Congress and the public with unbiased
analysis of bankruptcy issues. The ABI membership includes nearly 12,400
attorneys, accountants, bankers, judges, professors, lenders, turnaround
specialists and other bankruptcy professionals, providing a forum for
the exchange of ideas and information. For additional information on
ABI, visit www.abiworld.org. For additional conference
information, visit
href='http://www.abiworld.org/conferences.html'>
face='Times New
Roman'>http://www.abiworld.org/conferences.html.